CSR project

The Project - focused on Raising awareness of CSR instruments and building capacity in CSOs and Trade Unions in selected new member states - was carried out in 2006 by 10 partner organizations from 7 EU member states: Austria, Estonia, France, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. The significant breadth of our informal network was essential for achieving the stated aims of our joint project. This project has been led by GARDE (Global Alliance for Responsibility, Democracy and Equity), a core programme of the Environmental Law Service in the Czech Republic.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a core mechanism for bringing together EU goals of environmental protection, social cohesion and economic growth. Despite different definitions and approaches to CSR advocated by business associations, trade unions and civic groups, a shared understanding among these stakeholders has emerged, emphasizing the need for greater awareness and knowledge on CSR, the need for greater collaboration among stakeholders, and the need to establish shared principles for CSR implementation and monitoring.Yet a fundamental barrier still remains, which may continue to hinder the adoption of CSR frameworks across the EU.

Despite the growing knowledge and practices of CSR in Western Europe, there is still a high degree of unawareness of, and disinterest in, CSR in new member states in Central and Eastern Europe. Unlike their Western counterparts, many civic organizations and labour unions in the CEE do not have even a general knowledge of what CSR is, and thus have not been active stakeholders in debates concerning it. Even the European Multi-stakeholder Forum on CSR - a key body that has sought to reach common recommendations for the future of CSR in Europe - had only minimal representation from stakeholders in new member states.

To combat this problem, we proposed a project aimed as raising awareness of CSR and building capacities concerning CSR among labour unions and civil society organizations in select new member states. Our activities involved:

• a training seminar that facilitate d know-how exchange between CSR experts in the EU-15 and new member states;
• national seminars in three different countries (Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic) aimed at educating and networking CSR stakeholders;
• legal monitoring activities by the project partners to examine CSR cases and trends in their home states;
• the development of a database of case studies on CSR from different new member states;
• publishing activities: "Taking corporate social responsibility seriously", a handbook aimed at educating stakeholders and the general public of CSR-related issues;
• an international conference "Corporate social responsibility in the EU- 10: expectations vs. reality";
• and a number of other activities.